


Baby Beluga

by HoodEx



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Brother Feels, Dick is a Good Older Brother, Dick takes care of him, Fluff, Gen, Tim is a six-month-old baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 16:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13593645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoodEx/pseuds/HoodEx
Summary: Tim gets de-aged to a six-month-old and Dick takes care of him.





	Baby Beluga

**Author's Note:**

> An anon asked me to write a fic using this prompt/dialogue, “Bow before the king! …Actually could you hug me instead because I’m feeling really insecure right now?”
> 
> Somehow it turned into a de-aged story. Enjoy!

Dick scooped a generous amount of moisturizing cream from the jar Alfred had purchased not even an hour ago, trying to make it as warm as possible by rubbing it between his hands. He wasn't sure if Tim was going to like it when the cream was applied to the small tufts of hair on his head. He hadn't seemed to mind when Dick washed his hair out with shampoo during bath time. That may have had to do with the fact that Dick made funny faces at him the whole time. Tim had found it particularly amusing and had screeched happily from his position in the sink. Dick was pretty sure Damian had stood behind him and filmed the entire thing.

“Okay, kiddo,” Dick said, instantly gaining the six-month-old’s attention. “Let’s get rid of all that eczema you got there.” 

Tim continued to watch him. He glanced down every now and then to clench his little hand around the stuffed whale Damian had picked out for him. It wasn’t necessarily his favorite toy. Dick had quickly become annoyed with the toys that had rattles in them or that made noise in general. He made sure to leave those downstairs for the night, hoping Titus wouldn’t come across them and rip them to bits.

After managing to massage the cream onto Tim’s head with minimal fussing, Dick placed him on his hip and moved to the doorway. He'd heard the creaking wood echoing in the hallway, and that meant Alfred was on his way to deliver Tim’s last bottle for the night. 

Unfortunately, Alfred and Bruce had gotten sick right around the time that Tim was magically babified. Dick had pretty much stepped in to play dad to keep Tim away from his germ infested family members. That obviously didn’t stop Alfred from preparing them meals or from going to the store to get necessary baby supplies. It also didn’t stop Bruce from trying to tickle Tim’s sock covered feet or from offering his finger for Tim to grab onto. Even though it was adorable, it was also risky. Dick felt bad every time he had to swoop in and take Tim to another room when they came around. It was for Tim’s own good though. Besides, Dick would be damned if he got stuck rocking a congested baby for who knows how long. 

Tim started to wiggle as soon as he spotted Alfred in the hall. For the most part, he was a pretty chill baby that didn’t cry or move around a lot. He always got excited when he saw specific people in the house. Dick had a theory that Tim was still able to recognize them despite the current state of his underdeveloped brain. He always started to giggle when he saw Bruce and he would press sloppy “kisses” to Dick’s cheek when Dick came to get him after his naps. The only person he didn’t really react to was Damian. It could have been that Tim was always passing gas when Damian came into the room but… Dick was pretty sure it was because Tim remembered that he had permanent beef with Damian.

“Thanks for the bottle, Alfie,” Dick said, hiking Tim up higher on his hip before taking the bottle with his free hand. He noticed that Alfred was already dressed in his matching pajama set. It wasn’t often that he got to see Alfred in sleep clothes. Normally he wore his proper suit attire throughout the whole day and only changed when Batman and Robin came back from patrol. “You feeling okay?” 

“I believe I will feel much better after a proper night’s rest,” Alfred said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief to dab his nose with. “Excuse me, dear boy.” He turned away for a few moments, being a gentleman and all. His nose was bright red when he faced Dick again. 

“You sure you don’t need anything? Extra pillows? Something to clear your sinuses?” Dick asked. 

“I assure you, I’m quite alright at the moment, but thank you.” Alfred peered into the guest room that Dick had converted into a half assed nursery. “Do you have everything you need for the night?”

Tim, impatient to be fed, put his hands up to reach for his bottle. Dick handed it over to him and made sure Tim was able to grip it by himself before letting go. He took the pacifier from Tim’s mouth and cringed when the spit coated his fingers. 

“Yeah, I think I’ve got everything. He'll be ready to sleep as soon as he’s done with his bottle.”

Alfred raised a brow, looking slightly impressed. “You said he slept well the past two nights didn’t you?” 

Dick nodded. “I put him down around nine and he slept through the whole night. Didn’t make a peep until seven thirty or so.” 

“You have it easy then.” 

Dick couldn’t help the feeling of fondness that came over him when Tim looked up at him with his big blue eyes. He noticed drops of milk dangling precariously from the kid’s chin. Dick quickly wiped them away with the collar of his shirt, ignoring the dirty look Alfred gave him for it. 

“He’s pretty good for a baby,” Dick agreed. 

“Yes, well,” Alfred looked down at his watch. “Perhaps you could read him a story before he falls asleep. I believe Master Bruce snuck in the room earlier and left some children’s books on the nightstand.”

Dick rolled his eyes. Of course Bruce had to go and buy shit in secret as a way to show affection for his now infant son. Not that there was anything wrong with that. It was just such a _Bruce_ thing to do. 

“Alright, I’ll read him one. If I don't, Bruce will probably ninja his way in there while I’m sleeping and do it himself.”

The corner of Alfred’s mouth twitched. “Come wake me if you need anything. Goodnight.”

“Sure thing. Night, Alfie.” 

As soon as Alfred was gone, Dick propped Tim up against a couple of pillows on the big bed. The bottle was still halfway full and Tim looked determined to finish it. His eyes followed Dick over to the nightstand where Dick leafed through the stack of books Bruce had left. He was disappointed Robin Hood wasn’t one of the options. It was probably too complex for Tim to really enjoy anyways. The other titles weren’t familiar to him at all. He chose one at random. It’s not like Tim would know what they were about. 

Dick plopped onto the bed and rearranged their positions. He relaxed against the pillows and the headboard, allowing Tim to lean back against his chest. After smoothing back a few tufts of Tim’s wild hair, Dick opened the book and began to read out loud. The book was full of colorful pictures and it even had different textures on the pages for kids to feel. Dick took Tim’s hand and ran it over a section full of fuzzy fabric. Tim squealed, delighted, and gave it a few more pets before snuggling back against Dick’s chest. Dick dropped a quick kiss to his baby soft head and continued on with the story, using different voices for each character to make Tim laugh. Since the lion protagonist was speaking next, Dick switched his voice to a deep tone.

“Bow before the king! …Actually could you hug me instead because I’m feeling really insecure right now?” 

Dick blinked and went back to the top of the page to reread the scene. “Wait, what?” he muttered. “What kind of line is that? Do kids even know what insecure means?” He leaned down to look at Tim and booped him on the nose to get his attention. “This is what we call bad writing and lazy editing, baby Tim.”

Tim scrunched his nose and widened his mouth into a sleepy smile. He had drool bubbling around his lips. Dick wiped it off and then turned Tim over in his lap to burp him. The kid’s eyes were starting to droop and he was quickly becoming more malleable by the second. As soon as he was done burping, Dick gently thumbed Tim’s cheek, hoping the motion would soothe him to sleep faster. 

“I’ve got a secret. Want to know what it is?” Dick whispered. Tim’s half-mast eyes flickered to him as if prompting him to continue. “Course you do.” His tone was dangerously close to what most people would refer to as a “baby voice”. He’d managed to stop himself from doing it up until that point. “My secret is that I miss older you. Not just because you’re currently a baby. I mean… I miss you in general.” His fingers trailed upwards until he was once again pushing the soft tufts of hair back. “Something happened between us two. We don’t hang out much anymore and it makes me sad.” Tim’s eyes were barely slits now. Dick carefully scooped him up and placed him in the overpriced crib. “Maybe we can fix it when you’re big again, huh?” 

Tim let out a small whine as soon as Dick started to pull away from the crib. His eyes were back open and it looked like he could fall asleep again at any moment. When it looked like he was going to be stubborn and keep himself from sleeping, Dick snatched Tim’s stuffed whale off the bed and let Tim grab it from him. Resting his chin and arms on the bar of the crib, Dick began to quietly sing to him.

_Baby beluga in the deep blue sea_

_Swim so wild and you swim so free_

_Heaven above and the sea below_

_And a little white whale on the go_

Dick mumbled out a few more lines, not really remembering how the song went. It didn’t matter anyways. Tim had fallen asleep almost as soon as the song had started. Dick watched him for a few moments, making sure there was nothing in the crib that could suffocate Tim in his sleep. Once he was sure Tim was out for good, he crawled into his own bed and shucked his shirt off into some random corner of the room. He was exhausted. Taking care of baby Tim was fun, but it was also an energy zapping activity. He grinned into his pillow. Bruce had probably thought the same thing when Dick was younger and bouncing all over the walls of the manor. 

Dick turned towards the crib. “Night, kiddo,” he whispered. “Love you.”

He turned off the bedside lamp and huddled down into the covers. It didn’t take long at all before he joined Tim in slumberland. 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry that this was more of just fluff rather than an actual plot. Hope you enjoyed it anyways. Thanks for reading!
> 
> Come say hi to me on Tumblr at: https://hood-ex.tumblr.com


End file.
